Copyright 1994, The Commercial Appeal
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis)
March 6, 1994, Sunday, Final Edition
SECTION: METRO, Pg. 1B,
LENGTH: 832 words
HEADLINE: Cameras can't whir at Baldwin-Echols trial
Journalists adapt to judge's rules
BYLINE: By Bartholomew Sullivan, The Commercial Appeal
BODY:
Circuit Judge David Burnett says he wants silent cameras in the
courtroom or he will ban picture-taking in the Jonesboro, Ark., trial
of Damien Wayne Echols and Charles Jason Baldwin.
In an effort to comply with the directive, photographers from
regional newspapers have designed any number of attractive means to
silence their Nikons.
The reporter from the West Memphis Evening Times has hers wrapped
in a checkered dish towel.
A photographer from The Jonesboro Sun has his in a gold shoebox,
wrapped with rubber bands.
But by far the most elaborate is the contraption designed by the
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette of Little Rock. Its shooter has a Tupperware
cake box stuffed with foam plastic gleaned from the back seat of his
car. Witness's words need translation
The crowded courtroom picked up a new vernacular when the state
called Anthony Hollingsworth to the stand Thursday.
Hollingsworth testified he was one of seven passengers in a Ford
Escort, and saw Damien Echols and his girlfriend walking near the
woods where three boys were later found dead on the night they
disappeared.
Under questioning by Deputy Prosecutor John N. Fogleman,
Hollingsworth was asked about the girlfriend's hair. How long was it?
Hollingsworth: About middle waist.
Fogleman: What do you mean?
Hollingsworth: It ain't real long but it ain't short, neither.
Fogleman: I understand what you're talking about. Could you run that by me again?
Hollingsworth, in a cross-examination by Echols's lawyer Scott
Davidson, also was asked whether seeing Echols and his girlfriend had
been a hot topic around his house.
Davidson: You all talk about this quite a bit around the house,
don't you?
Hollingsworth: No, not that much, why?
Davidson: Since this happened last year, you all have sat around
and talked about this, haven't you?
Hollingsworth: Not that much. Off and on. Very often. Separate trailers
Narlene Hollingsworth, Anthony's mother, told the jury she was
driving the Escort that night and was feeling ill. She pulled over
near the Robin Hood Hills woods because ''I sure didn't want to get
sick in the car.''
''Is all this relevant?'' Fogleman wanted to know.
On another Davidson cross-examination, she said her son lives in a
trailer separated from hers, but said she'd rather not say why.
''Well, he didn't kill anybody,'' she said. An education in reporting
Jonesboro, a city of 46,535, is the home of Arkansas State
University. Various classes of its department of Journalism have been
attending the trial.
Student Tisha Gilbert, managing editor of the student newspaper
The Herald, said she'd always heard there are no real surprises in a
real-life courtroom contest.
Thursday's testimony involving an alleged confession in the case,
she said, proved that wrong. ''I think that surprised everybody,'' she
said.
Journalism department chairman Joel T. Gambill said he plans to
send his graduate seminar in press problems to the trial Tuesday and
has already lectured on The Commercial Appeal's victory in the
Arkansas Supreme Court last week in an effort to have jury selection
conducted in public.
''I don't really think there would be a better lesson'' than the
courtroom action, he said. Relatives and irrelevancies
Narlene Hollingsworth was also asked about a witness subpoenaed in
the Misskelley case, named L. G. Hollingsworth. Davidson wanted to how
he is related to her.
Hollingsworth: I'm his aunt through marriage.
Davidson: You're his aunt by marriage but he's your ex-husband's
son?
Hollingsworth: I know it's confusing.
Davidson: L.G. is your ex-husband's son but you're his aunt by
marriage? How does that happen?
Judge David Burnett: Is that really relevant? Let's not try to
sort it out. TV film crew aid Take O
For weeks, there has been speculation about the father of one of
the victims in the case, John Mark Byers, who is a convicted felon.
On Thursday, the packed courtroom sat in rapt attention as the
chief detective in the case said Byers had been a suspect in the
murder of his son as recently as Jan. 26.
The testimony showed Byers gave a folding knife to a
representative of Creative Thinking International Ltd., a documentary
film crew making a movie about the case, and that the knife had been
sent to police on Jan. 8.
Traces of blood on the knife matched Christopher Byers's type.
Just before the detective's testimony, a technician with the film
company passed Byers a note.
After the testimony, the director offered him a Lifesaver candy.
Byers declined it. TV film crew aid Take T
When Jackie Hicks, grandfather of victim Steve Branch, needed a
battery for his hearing aid Wednesday, he was in luck. Creative
Thinking came through with the tiny device.
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis)
March 6, 1994, Sunday, Final Edition
SECTION: METRO, Pg. 1B,
LENGTH: 832 words
HEADLINE: Cameras can't whir at Baldwin-Echols trial
Journalists adapt to judge's rules
BYLINE: By Bartholomew Sullivan, The Commercial Appeal
BODY:
Circuit Judge David Burnett says he wants silent cameras in the
courtroom or he will ban picture-taking in the Jonesboro, Ark., trial
of Damien Wayne Echols and Charles Jason Baldwin.
In an effort to comply with the directive, photographers from
regional newspapers have designed any number of attractive means to
silence their Nikons.
The reporter from the West Memphis Evening Times has hers wrapped
in a checkered dish towel.
A photographer from The Jonesboro Sun has his in a gold shoebox,
wrapped with rubber bands.
But by far the most elaborate is the contraption designed by the
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette of Little Rock. Its shooter has a Tupperware
cake box stuffed with foam plastic gleaned from the back seat of his
car. Witness's words need translation
The crowded courtroom picked up a new vernacular when the state
called Anthony Hollingsworth to the stand Thursday.
Hollingsworth testified he was one of seven passengers in a Ford
Escort, and saw Damien Echols and his girlfriend walking near the
woods where three boys were later found dead on the night they
disappeared.
Under questioning by Deputy Prosecutor John N. Fogleman,
Hollingsworth was asked about the girlfriend's hair. How long was it?
Hollingsworth: About middle waist.
Fogleman: What do you mean?
Hollingsworth: It ain't real long but it ain't short, neither.
Fogleman: I understand what you're talking about. Could you run that by me again?
Hollingsworth, in a cross-examination by Echols's lawyer Scott
Davidson, also was asked whether seeing Echols and his girlfriend had
been a hot topic around his house.
Davidson: You all talk about this quite a bit around the house,
don't you?
Hollingsworth: No, not that much, why?
Davidson: Since this happened last year, you all have sat around
and talked about this, haven't you?
Hollingsworth: Not that much. Off and on. Very often. Separate trailers
Narlene Hollingsworth, Anthony's mother, told the jury she was
driving the Escort that night and was feeling ill. She pulled over
near the Robin Hood Hills woods because ''I sure didn't want to get
sick in the car.''
''Is all this relevant?'' Fogleman wanted to know.
On another Davidson cross-examination, she said her son lives in a
trailer separated from hers, but said she'd rather not say why.
''Well, he didn't kill anybody,'' she said. An education in reporting
Jonesboro, a city of 46,535, is the home of Arkansas State
University. Various classes of its department of Journalism have been
attending the trial.
Student Tisha Gilbert, managing editor of the student newspaper
The Herald, said she'd always heard there are no real surprises in a
real-life courtroom contest.
Thursday's testimony involving an alleged confession in the case,
she said, proved that wrong. ''I think that surprised everybody,'' she
said.
Journalism department chairman Joel T. Gambill said he plans to
send his graduate seminar in press problems to the trial Tuesday and
has already lectured on The Commercial Appeal's victory in the
Arkansas Supreme Court last week in an effort to have jury selection
conducted in public.
''I don't really think there would be a better lesson'' than the
courtroom action, he said. Relatives and irrelevancies
Narlene Hollingsworth was also asked about a witness subpoenaed in
the Misskelley case, named L. G. Hollingsworth. Davidson wanted to how
he is related to her.
Hollingsworth: I'm his aunt through marriage.
Davidson: You're his aunt by marriage but he's your ex-husband's
son?
Hollingsworth: I know it's confusing.
Davidson: L.G. is your ex-husband's son but you're his aunt by
marriage? How does that happen?
Judge David Burnett: Is that really relevant? Let's not try to
sort it out. TV film crew aid Take O
For weeks, there has been speculation about the father of one of
the victims in the case, John Mark Byers, who is a convicted felon.
On Thursday, the packed courtroom sat in rapt attention as the
chief detective in the case said Byers had been a suspect in the
murder of his son as recently as Jan. 26.
The testimony showed Byers gave a folding knife to a
representative of Creative Thinking International Ltd., a documentary
film crew making a movie about the case, and that the knife had been
sent to police on Jan. 8.
Traces of blood on the knife matched Christopher Byers's type.
Just before the detective's testimony, a technician with the film
company passed Byers a note.
After the testimony, the director offered him a Lifesaver candy.
Byers declined it. TV film crew aid Take T
When Jackie Hicks, grandfather of victim Steve Branch, needed a
battery for his hearing aid Wednesday, he was in luck. Creative
Thinking came through with the tiny device.
